Russian forces are slowly encircling the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, a key logistics hub whose main supply lines are under threat nearly three years after Moscow invaded its neighbor.
While Ukraine is stubbornly defending the city, its encirclement or fall could put Russia in a strong position to mount attacks in several directions to the east and increase pressure on Kiev at a critical point in the war, Reuters points out.
Inside Pokrovsk, life is grim. According to the regional governor, 7,000 residents remain from a pre-war population of 60,000. On either side of the town, Russian troops are within artillery and drone range of a crucial east-west highway across Ukraine, and most cars are now diverting along back roads into Pokrovsk for their safety, Ukrainian soldiers told Reuters.
“The situation is generally difficult, the enemy is constantly attacking on foot,” said the deputy commander of the Ukrainian 59th assault brigade, which is fighting on the Pokrovsk front. The officer said that “the enemy had a much larger number of infantry, attacking in small groups ready to inflict extremely high casualties and skillfully exploiting the landscape and low-visibility weather conditions to hide from drones.”
Pokrovsk's road and rail connections have made it an important supply hub for much of Ukraine's front line, although in recent months the threat of Russian artillery and drones has limited this function.
Meanwhile, it is reported that Russian air defense systems destroyed 49 Ukrainian drones in seven regions of the Russian Federation overnight. This was reported by the Moscow Defense Ministry.
In particular, "25 in the territory of the Rostov region, 8 in the Volgograd region, 6 in the Kursk region, 4 in the territory of the Yaroslavl Krai region and 2 in each of the territories of the Belgorod, Voronezh and Krasnodar Krai regions," the Russian Defense Ministry said. (A2 Televizion)
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